Toyota won’t fight warranty war with MG in Australia

Toyota will not follow Mitsubishi and MG in offering longer new car warranties, instead sticking with a five-year, unlimited mileage warranty in Australia.

The warranty battle heated up earlier this year when Chinese brand MG extended its seven-year unlimited mileage warranty to 10 years and 250,000 km, replacing Mitsubishi’s 10-year, 200,000 km conditional warranty policy.

Kia, Skoda, Ssangyong and Great Wall Motors offer seven years of warranty, while the Isuzu Ute comes with six years.

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Like most rivals, Toyota offers a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, but the powertrain coverage can be extended to seven years if the vehicle is serviced on time in the Toyota dealer network.

Toyota Australia vice-president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley told media the brand had “no intention of expanding its current footprint”.

“We believe our current warranty coverage is adequate,” he said.

“We did increase our warranty rates a few years ago. The law of the country where we operate, the Australian Consumer Law, does cover warranty matters, so Australian consumers have absolutely no reason to be concerned about product issues because we are, in fact, bound by the Australian Consumer Law.

“We have our own warranty, and on top of that we have other regulatory requirements. From a Toyota perspective, our warranty is extensive and we don’t abandon anybody. We stand by quality, durability and reliability.”

Hyundai Australia pioneered the five-year warranty, launching its then-market-leading warranty in 1999.

Kia then introduced a seven-year, unlimited-mileage warranty in 2014, and companies such as Great Wall Motors and Ssangyong Motors soon followed suit.

Honda and Jeep introduced five-year warranty plans in 2017, followed by Ford, Mazda and Volkswagen in 2018. Subaru and Toyota also introduced five-year warranty plans in early 2019.

In the luxury car sector, Genesis launched in Australia in 2019 with a five-year warranty, while Mercedes-Benz Australia extended its three-year warranty to five years in 2020. Volvo followed suit the same year.

Jaguar Land Rover and Lexus both saw significant sales growth in 2021, while Audi saw a sales leap in January 2022. Alfa Romeo followed closely in mid-2022.

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